


Didn't Need You Anyway

by beeskneeshuh



Category: Six - Marlow/Moss
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-08-07
Packaged: 2020-05-28 05:45:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,758
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19387711
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/beeskneeshuh/pseuds/beeskneeshuh
Summary: When Henry breaks up with Catherine Parr, she finds herself with a new group of friends.





	1. Chapter 1

“That’s it. I’m done.”

“What are you talking about?”

Catherine Parr was beyond confused. She and her boyfriend, Henry Tudor, had been in her bedroom for about an hour working on homework when Henry broke the, what Parr thought had been comfortable, silence. He had slammed his math textbook closed as he spoke, and looked irritated. 

“This is all we ever do! And I’m fucking tired of it!” Henry was standing now, putting his things in his backpack.

“Oh, please, Henry, you know we do other stuff, but I have a bunch of tests coming up next week and I-”

“ _ And you need to be prepared. _ Yeah. I know. But we’ve barely gone out in a month. The guys are starting to give me shit, say that I’m whipped.”

Parr was beginning to get upset by that point. Henry  _ knew _ that school was important to her, and he had never made a big deal about it before. And now, suddenly, he was going to break up with her because of it?

Parr stood up and grabbed Henry’s wrist, stopping him from zipping up his backpack. 

“Babe, please. Just… after next week we can go out more,” Parr pleaded. 

“It’s not just about going out. You hardly even let me touch you anymore,” Henry said, his face turning softer, as he reached for Parr’s waist, trying to pull her closer. 

But Parr still had a hold of his wrist, and she promptly yanked his hand away from her body. She was not about to let him guilt her into giving him what he wanted. 

“Fuck you, Catherine,” he said as he pulled away from Parr’s grasp and picked up his backpack. “We’re done.” And with that he walked out of Parr’s room. 

Parr would be lying if she said she wasn’t relieved. Being with Henry wasn’t exactly the best experience. But  _ not  _ being with Henry? Only time would tell, but based on his past, wasn’t going to be much better.

Henry had five ex-girlfriends. Well, six now. After he broke up with each of them, he had to maintain his reputation, and ended up ruining theirs in the process. He would spread rumours about the girls, making himself seem like a saint for putting up with them. 

Parr hadn’t even wanted to date Henry.

But the day he asked her out on a date, she knew she couldn’t say no. He would ruin her, just like he did to his exes. She could only hope their relationship would reach graduation, so she could break up with him and not have to worry about stupid high school drama. 

Unfortunately, there were still three months until graduation. 

Which meant, starting the next day at school, Parr would be ostracized. He would spread some rumour about why they broke up, make her look like the bad guy. No one would talk to her, out of fear of getting the same treatment. 

It was going to be a long three months. 

The next day at school wasn’t as bad as Parr thought it would be. Sure, no one talked to her, and people would stare and whisper, but she could ignore all of that. She just had to keep her head down and power through.

At lunch, she was sitting alone at a table in the cafeteria when she saw a large shadow appear on the table in front of her. She looked up from her food to see five girls standing in front of her. 

All five of Henry’s exes. Were they all…  _ friends? _

“Can we sit here?” Jane asked kindly. 

Parr hesitated to answer, unsure of what they wanted, but nodded. They all put their lunches on the table and sat down.

“So you finally ditched that sleaze?” Aragon asked. 

“More like he ditched me,” Parr said quietly. Parr couldn’t help but wonder why in the world they were talking to her. There was an awkward silence as they began to eat their lunches. Parr noticed Anne kick Katherine under the table and then jerk her head towards Parr when Katherine looked up at her. 

“Do you want to be our friend?” Katherine blurted suddenly. 

“I’m sure you guys are great, but why would I want to be friends with all of the exes of my ex?”

“Because we’re the only ones who know what it’s like to date Henry,” Anne replied. “And what it’s like to  _ not _ be dating him anymore.” 

Anne was the only one out of the five that Parr actually knew. They had been friends in middle school, and then one thing led to another, and they started dating when they were freshman. They broke up a year later when Anne’s dad found out they were together. 

Less than a month later Anne started dating Henry.

Parr had been heartbroken. 

But she was over it now. It had been a couple years, and she had moved on. 

“I didn’t even know all of you guys were friends,” Parr said.

“Yeah, well, no one really gives a shit about you after Henry dumps you,” Cleves chimed in. 

“But… why are you all friends? Isn’t it weird all being one of Henry’s exes?”

“It was kind of weird at first,” Aragon explained. “I hated Anne when Henry dumped me for her. Thought she stole him from me. But when he spread those nasty rumors about me, and then did the same to Anne when he dumped her, I knew Henry was the one to blame, not Anne. So that’s kind of how it started.”

“And Henry controls this whole damn school, so no one else will be friends with any of us. We’re all we’ve got,” Anne said, a hint of anger in her voice.

“I guess I don’t really have much of a choice then, do I?”

“Well, of course you have a choice, Catherine. We won’t force you to do anything,” Jane said.

“But it’d be really cool if you did hang out with us,” Katherine said quietly. Parr smiled at the comment. 

They finished their lunch with some friendly banter, Parr just watching in amusement. It was a nice change of pace, having spent the last few months always eating with Henry and the rest of the popular crowd. Parr had always been afraid of joining in on conversations with them, since when she did she was usually met with judgemental looks.

But with these five, she didn’t feel like they would judge her for anything. It was refreshing.

That was why she decided before the lunch period was even over that she had found herself a new group of friends.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> warning: mild violence

The next few weeks after Parr befriended the rest of Henry’s exes went by fast. Parr had expected the rest of the school year to be long and dreadful, but it was anything but. 

It was a little awkward for Parr to be hanging out with Anne so much, but it didn’t take long for them to fall back into their friendship they had in middle school. Although, it did help that the other four were always there to act as a buffer.

About a month after Henry broke up with Parr, they were eating lunch at their usual table when Cleves ran over with her food, looking more excited than usual.

“Guys, I’ve just had an amazing idea,” she said once she sat down.

“What is it?” Jane asked.

“I just heard that Henry has his eyes on a new girl.”

“Ew, why are you telling us this?” Anne asked, her face scrunched at the mention of Henry.

“Well, I was thinking we could try to talk to her, tell her all the awful things about Henry so that she won’t want to date him.”

“Who’s the girl?” Parr chimed in.

“Katherine Brandon.” 

Anne let out a laugh. “The guy sure does have a type.”

“Is having a specific name really a type?” Katherine asked.

“When half of the girls you’ve dated have one name, it becomes a type,” Aragon deadpanned.

“What’s the point of this, though?” Anne asked.

“Well, first off it would be to mess with Henry. But also to spare poor Brandon from dealing with the son of a bitch.”

“I think it’s a great idea,” Jane said. “No one else should have to be put through this.”

Parr took a moment to think it over. She knew Katherine Brandon. They had a few classes together, and she always seemed nice. Too good for Henry. Although, every girl was too good for Henry, Parr thought.

“I can talk to her.”

Everyone stopped and looked at Parr.

“Are you sure?” Cleves asked. 

Parr nodded. “I have a few classes with her, it would be easy. I can do it.”

Which is how Parr found herself not sitting in her usual seat in AP Physics later that day, but rather in the desk next to Katherine Brandon.

“Oh, hey Catherine,” Katherine said quietly, barely looking up, once Parr sat down. “Don’t you normally sit over there?” she asked as she gently jutted her head in the direction of the other side of the room.

“Yeah, but I was hoping I could talk to you today.”

“About what?”

“I think you know what.”

Katherine looked up at Parr, making eye contact for the first time since Parr sat down. “I don’t think I should talk about this with you.”

“Well, I think I’m the  _ exact _ person you should be talking to about this.”

“No, really, you’re not.”

“And why is that?” Parr raised her eyebrow at Katherine.

“Because Henry actually likes me. He never really liked you, he told me that himself. He said you bribed him into dating you because you wanted to be popular,” Katherine responded. The slight shake of her voice told Parr that she didn’t entirely believe that, but was too afraid to admit it, even to herself.

“Oh, come on Katherine, you’re smart enough to know that’s a load of shit.”

Just then, the bell rang and the class started. Parr wasn’t about to continue the conversation while the teacher was talking, so she scribbled a note on the corner of the page of her notebook, quietly tore it off, and leaned over to place it on Katherine’s desk when the teacher wasn’t looking.

_ Meet me in the band room after school. _

Katherine looked at the note, then after a few moments of staring at it she stuffed the small piece of paper in her backpack. Parr couldn’t tell if Katherine would actually do it, but it was worth a shot.

When the bell rang at the end of class, Katherine quickly grabbed her things and hurried out of the room, clearly trying to avoid Parr.

Between classes, Parr texted the other five what happened with Katherine, and to meet in the band room after school. Cleves and Katherine had orchestra last period and would be in the room, which is what made Parr think of it. This clearly needed to come from all of them for Katherine to listen, and it seemed like the place they would least likely get interrupted.

The last period of the day seemed to drag on for Parr, but eventually the final bell rang. Parr quickly stopped at her locker and then made her way to the band room. The other five were already there when she walked in.

“Do you really think she’s gonna come?” Aragon asked, sitting on the piano bench next to Jane.

“I… I’m not sure. But it’s worth a shot, right?” Parr said, taking a seat on one of the chairs in the front.

“I suppose.”

Parr chatted with Cleves and Katherine, who were also sitting on the chairs, Katherine with her legs on Cleves’ lap. Anne was seated at the drum set, quietly tapping on the drums, and Jane was showing Aragon how to play a song on the piano. After about twenty minutes, Anne checked her phone for the time and let out a loud groan.

“She’s clearly not coming. Can we please leave?” Anne whined. 

“Can we wait just a little longer?” Parr asked. Anne huffed but stayed where she was sitting.

Another ten minutes and the rest of them were also beginning to grow impatient. It became clear, even to Parr, that Katherine wasn’t going to show up. Just as they were leaving, though, a familiar face walked into the room.

Henry.

“Well, hello girls,” he said, his voice sickly sweet. The girls stumbled back as he sauntered towards them, an annoying smirk on his face. “A little birdie told me you lot are trying to turn sweet, sweet Katherine Brandon against me.”

“Yeah? What the fuck are you gonna do about it? You already dragged our names through the mud, there’s not much else you can do,” Anne snapped. 

“Oh, Anne. There is so, so much more I can do.” Henry walked closer to Anne, who was standing her ground, until their faces were only inches apart. “So don’t. Mess. With. Me.”

Anne roughly pushed him away from her. “Get the fuck away from me, you asshole.”

Something in Henry’s eyes changed in that moment. His facade was gone, and he looked at Anne with only anger in his eyes. 

In one swift motion, he raised his hand and slapped Anne across the face, the sound causing Parr and Katherine to jump.

It was quiet for a few seconds as everyone realized what had just happened, then suddenly Cleves charged forward at Henry and punched him in the nose. He stumbled backwards, his hand flying to his face. He tripped on the drum set, causing a loud clatter. When he was finally able to steady himself, he swiftly walked to the doorway.

“You’re gonna fucking regret this,” he said before storming out. Once he was gone, everyone gathered around Anne. 

“Holy shit, are you okay?” Cleves asked. 

“I’m fine,” Anne answered. “How’s your hand?”

“It hurts a little, but it’ll be okay,” Cleves said as she shook her hand out.

“What do you think he’s gonna do?” Katherine asked, her voice full of worry. Jane reached over to put a comforting hand on her arm.

“I’m sure he’s all bark and no bite,” Jane reassured her.

“I don’t know, Jane, he seemed pretty pissed. And if there’s one thing we all know, it’s never underestimate the vengefulness of Henry Tudor,” Aragon said.

“But what do we do now? What about Katherine Brandon?” Katherine asked.

“She chose Henry,” Parr said. “We tried to talk to her and she made her choice. She’s just gonna have to find out for herself how horrible Henry is.”

“There’s gotta be something we can do for her,” Katherine pleaded. 

“No, Catherine is right. We tried to warn her, and she blabbed to Henry. There’s not much else we can do, she obviously doesn’t care what we have to say,” Jane said.

“I guess,” Katherine said quietly, looking down at the floor. Something caught her eye and she looked up at Cleves. “We should probably get some ice on that,” she said, gesturing towards Cleves’ hand.

“Yeah, let’s get out of here, it reeks like Henry’s cologne,” Anne agreed.

They all went their separate ways, although Parr noted that Katherine seemed to be going home with Cleves. She’d have to ask Katherine about that some time.

For the rest of the day, Parr couldn’t get the sound of Henry slapping Anne out of her head. She had wanted to do something when it happened, punch him like Cleves did or push him or yell at him or  _ something _ , but in the moment she had been frozen. She couldn’t tell if she was more angry at Henry for hurting Anne or at herself for not doing anything about it.

That night, as she laid in bed, she couldn’t stop thinking about Anne. She couldn’t stop thinking about how if it were any of the other girls, she wouldn’t have froze like she did. 

It was because she cared about Anne. Parr was over her, of course, but that didn’t erase all the history they had together. She was still allowed to care about her. 

She definitely still wasn’t in love with Anne.

Right?


	3. Chapter 3

After the altercation with Henry in the band room, everyone was a little on edge. Sure, they didn’t think anything he would do would be any worse than what he had already done, but it was nerve wracking nonetheless. 

Rumours made their way around the school as to how Henry broke his nose, all of them making Henry out to be some sort of hero and none of them being anywhere near the truth. To the girls surprise, Henry never told anyone that it was Cleves who punched him. Which was almost more worrying. It meant he had something else up his sleeve.

A couple days after the altercation, the six of them went to the movies to see the new Spiderman movie, since Katherine had been begging them to see it since it came out. Anne was paying for her ticket and her drink when she heard Parr and Katherine talking quietly behind her in line.

“And she just gave you her number?” Katherine whispered, which was what caught Anne’s attention.

“Yeah, it was crazy. We’ve been lab partners all year and suddenly in the last couple weeks she started flirting with me. And then today it was like she turned it up ten notches and then gave me her number,” Parr replied.

“Are you gonna text her?”

“I don’t know. She’s really cute, and I’m definitely into her, but I’m not sure I want to date anyone right now. Things still feel weird after Henry and we’re about to graduate anyway. I’ll see how things go, I guess.”

Anne didn’t get to hear any more of the conversation as the employee handed her her drink and her ticket and she had to move out of the way for Katherine and Parr to get their tickets.

Anne knew she shouldn’t be upset at the idea of Parr possibly dating someone else. Anne was the one who broke up with Parr in the first place.

Not that she had  _ wanted _ to.

But that didn’t matter. Anne broke up with Parr, and now Parr was allowed to date anyone she pleased. 

Even though a small part of Anne had hoped that Parr still wanted to date  _ her _ .

“Earth to Anne.”

Anne blinked and saw Katherine snapping her fingers in front of Anne’s face. 

“Sorry.”

“You ready to go in?”

“Yeah.”

When they got into the theater, Anne made sure not to sit next to Parr, not wanting to hear anymore about her new lab partner girlfriend.  _ Calm down Anne, the girl just gave Cathy her number, it wasn’t a marriage proposal _ , Anne thought to herself. She ended up sitting on the end of their group, with Aragon on her right and Cathy on the opposite end of the group.

“You okay?” Aragon asked, having noticed that Anne was being much quieter than usual. 

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Anne replied without looking away from the screen, and Aragon didn’t press any further.

They all enjoyed the movie and were soon walking out of the theater, all listening as Katherine rambled on about her favorite parts. Jane, Katherine, and Parr had carpooled, and Anne, Aragon and Cleves had carpooled in another car. When they reached the parking lot, they said their goodbyes and got in their respective cars.

“It’s just us now Anne,” Aragon said as she drove, looking at Anne through the rearview mirror. “What’s wrong?”

“I already told you, nothing’s wrong.”

“Does it have something to do with the fact that Parr might be seeing someone else?” Cleves asked as she turned around in the passenger seat to face Anne.

“What? No. I don’t care who she dates.”

Cleves scoffed and turned back to the front. “Sure you don’t babe.”

Anne was silent for the rest of the drive, and got out of the car without a word when Aragon pulled in front of her house. As she walked through her house to her bedroom, she ignored the questions her parents asked about how her night was, wanting to get to her room as quickly as possible so that they wouldn’t see her cry.

She quickly shut the door behind her once she got to her room, then dropped to the ground, her back against the door and her knees curled up against her chest, and she finally let the tears fall. She buried her head in her arms in an attempt to quiet her sobs, not wanting her parents to be worried and come check on her.

She couldn’t tell them why she was so upset. She couldn’t tell them about how she was still in love with Parr, and that even the thought of her seeing someone else broke her heart.  _ They _ were the reason she wasn’t with Parr in the first place. 

It had been easier when Parr dated Henry. Anne knew Parr didn’t have a choice. Of course, it worried Anne, since she knew how much of a sleeze Henry was, but she knew Parr could fend for herself.

It was easy then, because Parr couldn’t have been all that interested in Henry. But now, Parr was interested in someone.  _ And that person wasn’t Anne _ . 

Eventually, Anne ran out of tears, and she just stayed sitting on the ground with her chin resting on her arm. After a few minutes of sitting like this, something caught her eye in her closet. 

She had completely forgotten about it. The small shoebox was barely visible behind the pillows that Anne had placed on the shelf since the last time she got out the box. She mustered the energy to stand up and made her way over to her closet, holding the pillows in place as she pulled the shoebox off the shelf.

She used to put movie tickets in it, and notes that she would pass between her friends at school, usually from Parr. She pulled her movie ticket from Spiderman out of her back pocket so she could put it in the box.

The first thing she saw when she took the lid off the box was probably the last thing she wanted to see at that moment. 

She suddenly remembered the reason why she stopped putting movie tickets and notes in her shoebox. After she broke up with Parr, she put all of the photographs of them together that she had in her room in the box. She hadn’t wanted to actually get rid of them at the time, but she didn’t want her parents to know she still had them. Hence the shoebox.

The photo on top that she was staring at was the one that had been framed on Anne’s nightstand. Anne was kissing Parr’s cheek, and Parr had the happiest smile on her face. They had both said “I love you” for the first time right before the picture had been taken.

Anne resisted the urge to look through all the photos in the box, throwing the movie ticket into the shoebox and quickly putting the lid back on. She returned the box to its place on the shelf, put on pajamas, and tucked herself into bed. She just wanted this day to be over.

Unfortunately for Anne, she couldn’t sleep. She had a thousand thoughts running through her head, all of them about Parr. She thought about the possibility of them getting back together. Anne was 18 now and about to head to college, so keeping their relationship from her parents would be easier, and then soon after that she’d be able to have her own job and support herself and not have to worry about her father disowning her because she was with a girl.

But did Parr even  _ want _ Anne anymore? She hadn’t shown any hostility towards Anne since they became friends again, which was a good sign, but she also hadn’t shown any interest in dating Anne again. 

But maybe that was because Anne hadn’t either. And she hadn’t because Parr hadn’t.

At that point she realized she was just going in circles. Maybe it would just be best to talk to Parr about it, get a definite answer.

But what if Parr didn’t give the answer Anne wanted? She didn’t want to mess up the dynamic their group had because she was being selfish.

After awhile of laying in bed and her thoughts running marathons inside her head, exhaustion finally got the best of her and she drifted off into a dreamless sleep.

\---

“Hey, could you drive me home?”

Anne looked up from her locker to see Parr standing next to her, looking at her with pleading eyes.

“My mom’s car is in the shop so she’s using mine. And everyone else has stuff to do after school,” Parr explained when Anne didn’t respond right away.

“So I’m your last resort?”

“You… you know it’s not like that.” Anne knew Parr just didn’t want to stick them in an awkward situation, alone in a car together, but it still stung a little.

“Sure, I’ll drive you. Meet me here after school.”

“Thanks! You’re the best!” Parr seemed like she wanted to go in for a hug, but second guessed herself, instead just awkwardly patting Anne’s arm and then hurrying off.

Anne sighed and closed her locker, making her way to her next class. Her mind wandered back to her thoughts from the previous night. She had practically been given the perfect opportunity for talking to Parr. But she wasn’t sure if she was prepared for the inevitable rejection that Parr would have for her.

She decided the less she talked on the drive home, the better.

Parr was already standing next to Anne’s locker when she walked over after her last class. They exchanged hellos but didn’t speak while Anne got what she needed out of her locker.

“You ready?” Anne asked as she closed her locker.

“Yeah.”

They walked out to the parking lot, each making sure there was a good amount of distance between them to avoid awkwardly bumping hands.

“You still live at the same place, right?” Anne asked once they were in the car.

“Yep.”

The ride was silent for the first few minutes until something caught Parr’s eye outside. 

“Hey, remember when you first got heelys?” Parr asked as she pointed out the window to a boy heelying down the sidewalk. “When you bought them you insisted that you put them on immediately, but then you didn’t even know how to heely and you kept falling down, and then I held your arm so you wouldn’t fall but then you just ended up taking me down with you,” Parr laughed.

Anne joined Parr in laughing, remembering the funny looks people had given them at the mall as they both crashed to the floor. “It was the beginning of an era,” she said dramatically.

“Do you still have those?”

“Probably somewhere in the back of my closet.”

“I dare you to wear them to school tomorrow.”

Anne looked at Parr to see if she was joking, but her expression never wavered. Anne raised an eyebrow. “Only if you wear your Crocs that I bought you for christmas that one year.” 

“You’ve got yourself a deal,” Parr said as she held out her hand, and Anne had to position her arm awkwardly to be able to shake it while she drove. 

They drove the next few blocks in silence, although it wasn’t as awkward as it had been before. Their banter reminded Anne of how they had been when they dated before. 

“So who’s this girl that you’ve got your eye on?”

Anne didn’t know what came over herself to ask the question, but as soon as she said it she immediately regretted it. 

“What do you mean?” Parr asked, her voice slightly higher than usual, which Anne knew meant she was uncomfortable. Anne knew she should just let it drop, not get into it, but curiosity got the better of her.

“I just… I overheard you and Kat talking at the movies about some girl that gave you her number.”

“Oh, yeah, that. Um, her name is Maggie. She’s my lab partner.”

“Did you text her?”

“Why do you care?” 

Anne was slightly taken aback by Parr’s sudden defensiveness. “I don’t know. I mean, we’re friends, right? And this is what friends talk about.”

“We’re different, though.”

“If you don’t wanna talk about it, just say so.”

“I don’t want to talk about it.”

“Oh.” Anne hadn’t expected such a blunt answer.

The rest of the drive was silent. When Anne pulled in front of Parr’s house, they exchanged quick, quiet goodbyes, and Anne didn’t pull away from the curb until Parr was safely in her house. 

She berated herself as she drove home. Why did she have to bring up the girl?  _ Maggie _ , apparently. There were a couple Maggie’s at their school, but Anne had no clue which one it was. Anne knew she should have just kept quiet. 

She knew she had to do some damage control, so when she got home she sent a quick text to Parr before going inside.

_ Sorry for being nosey.  _

She had wanted to say more, but knew she would just end up sending a lengthy paragraph that went in circles, so she left it at the short sentence.

Anne felt her phone buzz in her back pocket a few minutes later as she started to make herself an after school snack of macaroni and cheese.

_ You don’t need to be sorry, I shouldn’t have gotten so defensive. It’s just weird to talk about that with you, you know? _

Anne typed out a quick reply.

_ Yeah, I know. I shouldn’t have brought it up tho _

Anne couldn’t help but keep checking her phone as she finished making and then eating her mac and cheese, but Parr didn’t reply. 

Or at least, she didn’t reply immediately. Later that night, when Anne was getting ready for bed, she heard her phone buzz.

_ You’re still wearing your heelys tomorrow right? _

Anne laughed to herself as she read the text. Maybe she hadn’t completely ruined things between them.

_ As long as you wear your crocs :) _


	4. Chapter 4

The next couple weeks went by much better for Anne and Parr. Anne was careful not to bring up Maggie, and they didn’t have any more awkward moments or arguments. Although, looking back, Anne regretted not asking  _ anything _ about Maggie, because then maybe she wouldn’t have been so blindsided.

On this particular day, everyone else was already eating lunch at their regular table, and Parr was nowhere to be seen. After a couple minutes she practically ran into the cafeteria and towards their table.

“Guys! You’ll never guess what just happened!” Parr said as she approached the table, not yet having any food and barely containing her obvious excitement. 

“What?” Katherine asked with just as much enthusiasm, picking it up from Parr.

“I just got asked out on a date!”

Anne felt like she couldn’t breathe. She just sat there, frozen, staring at her food. 

“Who’s the lucky person?” Jane asked. But Anne already knew.  _ Maggie. _

She could hear everyone else asking Parr how it went and what she thought they might do, but Anne couldn’t actually hear what they were saying. She was focusing too hard on keeping her tears from falling down her face. She debated getting up from the table, going to the bathroom or her car or  _ anywhere but here _ but she didn’t want to cause a scene and make it obvious that she was upset. 

Although she probably wasn’t doing a very good job of that already, with how quiet she was being.

By the time she thought she could talk without her voice cracking and rejoin the conversation, they were talking about something new. She tried to be involved in the conversation, but based on the sympathetic looks Aragon and Cleves kept throwing her, she wasn’t doing a very good job at appearing normal.

Anne just wanted lunch to be over so she could get the hell out of there, and after what felt like an eternity of sitting at the lunch table, the bell rang and everyone started gathering their stuff. Anne made a beeline for the hallway and was almost out of the lunch room when a hand caught her arm. She turned around to see Parr.

“Hey, are you okay?” Parr asked, clearly worried and clearly unaware that she was the cause of Anne’s change in mood. Anne was helpless against the single tear that fell down her cheek.

“I’m obviously not, but whatever, it’s fine,” she tried to walk away but Parr grabbed her arm again.

“No, it’s not fine. Please talk to me,” Parr pleaded.  _ How oblivious could she be?  _ Anne thought.

“Don’t you get it?” Anne raised her voice, attracting the attention of the few people that were still filtering out of the cafeteria, but she didn’t care. “ _ You’re _ what’s wrong, Cathy. So, no, I can’t actually talk about it to you.” She walked away this time, Parr too shocked at the outburst to stop her again.

Parr had no idea what to think. What had she done to make Anne so upset? She seemed to have been upset the second Parr arrived to the lunch table. Had something happened before then? Then it hit her.

_ Was Anne upset that Parr was going on a date with Maggie? _

“Duh, dummy.”

The voice had come from right next to her. She blinked for a moment and then turned to see Katherine standing next to her.

“Did I say that out loud?” Parr asked.

“Yep.”

“What do you mean ‘duh?’”

“Well, I mean, it’s pretty obvious that she’s still in love with you. So obviously she’d be upset about you going out with someone else.”

“Anne’s not in love with me.” 

“Keep telling yourself that,” Katherine patted Parr’s shoulder and left for her next class.

Parr made her way to physics, but she couldn’t focus during the class for the life of her. She was too busy thinking about Anne.

Was Katherine right? Did Anne still love her? No, Anne was the one that broke up with her, there’s no way Anne would still want to be with her. Sure, Anne had said it was because her dad found out and was upset about it, but when Anne had started dating Henry a month later, it had made Parr wonder if that had actually been true.

Maybe it  _ was _ true. Maybe Anne never stopped wanting to be with her. But that was a big  _ maybe. _ Although, Katherine had seemed pretty sure.

But how did Parr feel? She wasn’t sure. She had spent so long forcing herself to get over Anne that she wasn’t really sure how she felt anymore. Was she  _ really _ over Anne or had she convinced herself she was to make it easier to be around her? 

But what if Katherine was wrong? There could very well be another explanation as to why Anne was upset. Although Parr wasn’t sure what else she might have done to cause Anne to react that way.

And what about Maggie? They had been getting along really well in the last few weeks, and Parr really liked her. She really had been genuinely excited at the idea of going out with her..

But then there was Anne. She had history with Anne. She loved Anne. She wanted-

_ Wait. _

Before she could go farther with that train of thought, she vaguely heard her name being said. She looked up to see that the whole class was staring at her, and her teacher was giving her an expectant and disapproving look.

“Ms. Parr?”

“Yes?”

“Are you going to answer the question?”

“Can you, um, repeat the question?”

Parr heard a couple people snicker and internally berated herself for not paying attention in class. Luckily, she was able to answer the question and made an effort to pay attention for the rest of the class.

She let herself have one more thought towards the matter, however, before focusing her attention on the lecture.  _ She needed to talk to Anne _ .

After school, Parr found herself walking towards Anne’s locker. She wasn’t even really sure what she wanted to say, but she knew this had to be done now. She didn’t want to hurt Anne more than she apparently already had.

“We need to talk,” she said once she got to Anne at her locker. Anne didn’t look at her even as she spoke.

“I told you. I don’t want to talk to you.”

“Yeah, I know what you said. But we really need to talk. About  _ us.” _

Anne slammed her locker shut and turned to face Parr. “There is no ‘us.’ There’s you, and there’s me, but there’s no us. Not anymore. So please, just let this drop.” She shoved past Parr, and Parr almost let her go, but some little voice in her head told her she’d regret it if she let Anne get away again. 

She ran to catch up with Anne, running past her, then stopping directly in front of her to block her path. Anne just gave her an annoyed look, but didn’t try to get past her again. “But that’s what I wanted to talk to you about!” Parr pleaded. “What if… I  _ wanted _ there to be an us?”

It looked like Anne had stopped breathing. She was completely frozen, aside from her eyes, which were darting around Parr’s face, probably searching for some tell that meant that Parr was just messing with her. After a few moments, her eyes stopped at Parr’s own, and Anne furrowed her brow.

“But you’re going out with Maggie.”

“Well, there just so happens to be someone I’d rather go out with.” 

Parr saw a glimmer of hope pass through Anne’s eyes, and just as soon as it was there, it was gone.

“What are you getting at?” Just when Parr thought they were making some progress.

“This is exactly why I wanted to talk to you, so we can get everything out in the open.”

Anne didn’t say anything, instead just walking past Parr, and grabbing her hand as she passed to drag her along.

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere to talk. Just come on.”

They ended up in Anne’s car, still in the school parking lot. They sat in silence for a couple moments before Anne spoke.

“So? You wanted to talk. So talk.”

Parr started at the beginning. She explained how heartbroken she had been when Anne broke up with her, and how it had hurt even worse when Anne started dating Henry not even a month later. They had always made fun of him together, and how the whole damn school seemed to worship him for some goddamn reason. 

“I guess I’m not really one to talk, though,” Parr laughed quietly. “I dated him, too.”

“Why  _ did _ you date Henry?”

“It felt nice to be… wanted. For the first time since, you know,” Parr gestured towards Anne, who nodded. “And as much as I didn’t like him, I didn’t want him to ruin my life if I said no. But I guess that didn’t really matter, anyways.

“I tried so hard to get over you. And I think part of me thought that dating Henry would help. And for awhile it did. I hardly even thought about you when I was with him. But now here we are, hanging out all the time again and it’s just brought back all these feelings.” Parr paused. “And now I’m thinking that maybe I’m not as over you as I thought I was. I didn’t want to say anything, though, because I thought for sure you had moved on. But today Katherine told me that… well, that you still like me.”

“That little snitch,” Anne interrupted, but there was no malice in her voice.

“Don’t be mad at her, I was the one who asked why you were upset at lunch. And we all know how bad Katherine is with secrets.” They both laughed. “So, yeah. That’s where I’m at right now. You should talk now.”

Anne took a deep breath before starting. “My dad was furious when he found out we were dating. He said if I didn’t break up with you he would kick me out. And then he started trying to push boys on me all the time, always asking me what boys at school I thought were cute, and he even got my mom to do it, too.

“One day, I was complaining to my mom about how Henry had been flirting with me even though he had a girlfriend. Well, I guess my mom told my dad about that, but all he took from it was that Henry was flirting with me, and next thing I know he’s telling me that I have a date with Henry. I guess he knows Henry’s dad and set it up or something, I’m not sure.

“I was still upset about us breaking up, but I wasn’t really in a position to tell my dad or Henry no, so I just went with it. And I guess you know the rest of that story.” Anne paused to take another deep breath. “And honestly? I never really got over you either. Since things had been going so well between us the last few weeks, I was thinking maybe I still had a chance with you. But then you show up to lunch today saying that you have a date with another girl, and it… it just hurt.”

Anne hadn’t even realized she was crying until she felt Parr’s hand on her cheek, wiping away her tears. Then Parr’s hand moved to the back of Anne’s neck and she was pulling her closer and their lips met and it was like it was their first kiss all over again. 

It was a short kiss, Parr pulling away after only a couple seconds, but she didn’t go very far as she leaned her forehead against Anne’s. They were both smiling like idiots, their hearts racing. 

“So what do we do now?” Anne asked. Parr tilted her chin to press another kiss to Anne’s lips. Anne laughed and pulled away. “You know that’s not what I mean.”

“Go out with me.”

“What about Maggie?”

“I’ll let her down gently.”

“Ok,” Anne said as she leaned in for yet another kiss. Parr was the one to pull away this time.

“Wait. What about your dad?” she asked.

“I’m 18 now and going to college in a few months. We can figure out how to keep it from him for that long, at least. Trust me, I’m not worried about that anymore.”

Before Parr could say anything else, both of their phones went off at the same time. They pulled their phones from their pockets to see who it was.

**Kat:** _ movie night at my house?(: _

The text was sent to their group chat and Parr knew exactly what the girl was up to.

“How much do you wanna bet she’s planning on getting us together at this movie night?” Parr laughed.

“Oh, she definitely is.” 

An hour later they found themselves at Katherine’s house, her dad having let them in, making their way down to the basement. When they got to the bottom of the stairs, they saw that everyone else was already there, and the only available spot to sit, besides the floor, was on a small couch that barely fit two people. Both Anne and Parr had to suppress a laugh at how obvious Katherine was being.

“We can’t decide between  _ The Devil Wears Prada _ and  _ The Other Woman _ , so you guys get to pick,” Katherine said as she held up both DVD cases.

Anne and Parr took their seats on the couch, Parr with her back against the arm of the couch and her legs going over Anne’s lap.

“How about  _ The Devil Wears Prada _ ?” Parr answered.

“Yeah,  _ The Devil Wears Prada _ sounds good to me,” Anne agreed.

When they faced the rest of the girls, they were met with four pairs of wide eyes. 

“What are you guys staring at? Do I have something on my face?” Anne asked.

“Well… it’s just… you two are…” Katherine gestured to Anne and Parr.

“Oh, are you talking about this?” Anne lifted up their held hands for everyone to see. “Yeah, we talked things out and now we’re…” she stopped and looked at Parr. “What exactly are we? I’m not really sure what ‘going out’ entails.”

“YOU GUYS ARE GOING OUT?”

Parr laughed. “Yes, I asked her to go out with me.” She looked at Anne. “And I thought it was sort of implied that we’re, like, back together.”

“No way dude, you have to ask me to be your girlfriend or else we’ll end up ten years down the line with a house and a kid and we’ll have no idea what we are to each other.”

“YOU GUYS ARE HAVING KIDS?”

Anne shot Katherine an I-love-you-but-stop-interrupting-my-moment look, and Katherine mouthed “sorry.”

“Well if that’s how you want it, then Anne Boleyn, will you do me the honor of being my girlfriend?”

Anne tapped her chin and pretended to ponder the question. “I’ll have to think about it.”

Parr made an exasperated sound and playfully shoved Anne’s shoulder.

“I’m kidding! Yes, of course I’ll be your girlfriend.” Anne smiled as she leaned in and pressed her lips to Parr’s, earning a chorus of “aww”s from the rest of the group. The kiss lasted longer than they expected, and those aww’s quickly turned into “get a room!” and suddenly Parr felt a pillow hit her in the face. Parr pulled away and threw the pillow back in the direction it came from, laughing the whole time.

“So are we gonna watch this movie or not?” Parr asked as if she hadn’t been part of the reason for the hold up. Katherine took the DVD out of its case and put it in the DVD player.

As the movie started and Parr leaned her head onto Anne’s shoulder, Parr could only think about how lucky she was to be sitting next to the most amazing person she knew and for that person to be her girlfriend, and to be surrounded by people who loved her and she loved just as much.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> catch me @prick-up-ur-ears on tumblr!


End file.
